Sorry if this topic has been spoken about on a separate post, did a search and didn't find anything recent about this kind of topic.

FFXIV Future Roles: Red Mage as a Tank

Sorry if this topic has been spoken about on a separate post, did a search and didn't find anything recent about this kind of topic. I also know there's only speculation to make at this point about 4.0 jobs, but in thinking about keeping a fresh approach and keeping FFXIV innovative, I was struck with some inspiration about filling in the blanks, so to speak, for future tank roles.

Almost all discussion I've witnessed has to do with putting RDM in either DPS or Healing roles due to its ability to use white and black magic in previous FF games. However, I was thinking about how using both of those types of magic in tandem with the traditional fencer-type aesthetic to create a truly unique tanking experience.

Red Mage as an Evasion Tank:

My main inspiration for RDM as a tank comes from the fact that we currently have no tanks that use parry/evasion as their main stats for coping with damage. While this can be unreliable in FFXIV as we know those stats now, I do know that I've heard speculation about parry/evade being tweaked and re-worked over time.

Traditionally Red mages used fencing swords, and this style of fighting is dependent upon deflecting incoming damage rather than taking it directly. RDM would be able to mitigate a majority of the incoming damage with parries/evades.

Red Mage Abiltiies:

Tank/DPS stances

To stay in line -somewhat- with our current tanks, RDM could have a damage mitigation/tanking stance, as well as a DPS stance. My ideas are as follows:

Guard/Prise de fer:

This would be a tanking stance that would greatly increase evasion/parry, but reduce overall damage output. This stance would also increase the effectiveness of healing magic the RDM uses. Damage dealing magic in this stance would have increase emnity generation.

En-fire:

This is the DPS stance that would lower evasion, but increase damage to attack magic and physical attacks. This stance would also enable Doublecast for increase damage output. This would also likely carry an MP regen/refresh to help maintain damage output.

Attack rotation:

The basic attack rotation would be a 1-2-3 combo. 1 and 2 would be physical attacks, and then the third would be an attack magic spell. Under the effects of Enfire, doublecast would allow for an additional third magic attack to be used in combination.

The other attack tree could be an MP regen attack like siphon or osmose. Featuring a 1-4-5 branch from the first basic attack.

Cooldowns:

They could have a few cooldowns that further increase their evasion and parry, also having a counter attack or Riposte cooldown that would return enemy damage.

The Lore of the Red Mages

My thoughts are that the red mages would come from a multi-national scholarly group, perhaps a sister school to Sharlayan scholars?

In this sense, the lore and job quests of a Red Mage would start with uncovering a hidden relic found by a Sharlayan scholar, which would inform you of this sister school of magical study. In investigating this relic, you would make contact with a Red Mage whose spirit is left after a cataclysmic ruin of the school of Red Mages. It would be revealed that the Red Mage scholars fell into ruin because they stretched themselves too far between the opposing factions of magic, and delving too deeply into the void or calling too heavily from the elementals would rend your body asunder. In this respect, you train your body to maintain your vitality and grow stronger, while also incorporating the magical concepts from void and elemental magic.

This spirit would guide you to the points of contact with the beast tribes' Black Mages and the Padjal white mages who would have communed with the Red Mage scholars. (Alternatively, you could uncover black and white mage spirits form Amdapor and Mhach independently from any living entities). This would enable you to learn from both sides of otherworldly magic, and realize your magical potential in a way that is independently developed from the traditional study of Black and White magic separately.

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